diff --git a/docs/changes.rst b/docs/changes.rst
index f3f7900afcb2..264520191453 100644
--- a/docs/changes.rst
+++ b/docs/changes.rst
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ Not yet released.
 * :envvar:`WEBLATE_REGISTRATION_CAPTCHA` is now available in Docker container.
 * :guilabel:`Synchronize` on shared repository now operates on all its components.
 * :ref:`check-punctuation-spacing` ignores markup such as Markdown or reStructuredText.
+* :ref:`autofix-punctuation-spacing` does not alter reStructuredText markup.
 
 **Bug fixes**
 
diff --git a/weblate/trans/autofixes/chars.py b/weblate/trans/autofixes/chars.py
index 56757f259a1d..62371fc406e4 100644
--- a/weblate/trans/autofixes/chars.py
+++ b/weblate/trans/autofixes/chars.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
     PunctuationSpacingCheck,
     ZeroWidthSpaceCheck,
 )
+from weblate.checks.same import RST_MATCH
 from weblate.formats.helpers import CONTROLCHARS_TRANS
 from weblate.trans.autofixes.base import AutoFix
 
@@ -106,13 +107,24 @@ def get_related_checks():
     def fix_single_target(
         self, target: str, source: str, unit: Unit
     ) -> tuple[str, bool]:
+        def spacing_replace(matchobj: re.Match) -> str:
+            if "rst-text" in unit.all_flags:
+                offset = matchobj.start(2)
+                rst_position = RST_MATCH.search(target, offset)
+                if rst_position is not None and rst_position.start(0) == offset:
+                    # Skip escaping inside rst tag
+                    return matchobj.group(0)
+            return f"\u00a0{matchobj.group(2)}"
+
         if (
             unit.translation.language.is_base(("fr", "br"))
             and unit.translation.language.code != "fr_CA"
             and "ignore-punctuation-spacing" not in unit.all_flags
         ):
             # Fix existing
-            new_target = re.sub(FRENCH_PUNCTUATION_FIXUP_RE_NBSP, "\u00a0\\2", target)
+            new_target = re.sub(
+                FRENCH_PUNCTUATION_FIXUP_RE_NBSP, spacing_replace, target
+            )
             new_target = re.sub(
                 FRENCH_PUNCTUATION_FIXUP_RE_NNBSP, "\u202f\\2", new_target
             )
diff --git a/weblate/trans/tests/test_autofix.py b/weblate/trans/tests/test_autofix.py
index d8c25d2e42ce..4c5476e9f21e 100644
--- a/weblate/trans/tests/test_autofix.py
+++ b/weblate/trans/tests/test_autofix.py
@@ -182,3 +182,14 @@ def test_punctuation_spacing(self) -> None:
         self.assertEqual(fix.fix_target(["Bar:"], fr_unit), (["Bar:"], False))
         self.assertEqual(fix.fix_target(["Bar:"], fr_ca_unit), (["Bar:"], False))
         self.assertEqual(fix.fix_target(["Bar:"], cs_unit), (["Bar:"], False))
+
+    def test_punctuation_spacing_rst(self) -> None:
+        fix = PunctuationSpacing()
+        fr_rst_unit = MockUnit(source="This :ref:`doc`", code="fr", flags="rst-text")
+        self.assertEqual(
+            fix.fix_target(["This :ref:`doc`"], fr_rst_unit),
+            (["This :ref:`doc`"], False),
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(
+            fix.fix_target(["This :"], fr_rst_unit), (["This\u00a0:"], True)
+        )